Basavaraj Bommai Takes Oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka

Bengaluru: Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday, July 28, took oath as the new chief minister of Karnataka.

The 61-year-old was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan here.

Ending the heightened suspense, the Karnataka BJP legislature party on Tuesday evening elected Bommai as its new leader to succeed outgoing chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

Bommai, a Lingayat leader from North Karnataka is a close confidante of Yediyurappa and, according to party sources, has the support of the veteran BJP leader.

Son of former chief minister, the late S.R. Bommai, he was Minister for Home Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislature in Yediyurappa's council of ministers which was dissolved on Monday.

It's the second time of a father-son duo becoming chief minister of Karnataka, after H.D. Deve Gowda and H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Bommai is a three time MLA from Shiggaon constituency in Haveri district and has been MLC twice.

Yediyurappa, Union ministers Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy, who were appointed as central observers by BJP's parliamentary board for the legislature party meeting, BJP national general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Arun Singh, state president Nalin Kumar Kateel and national general secretary C T Ravi were among those who attended the swearing-in.

Ahead of the swearing-in, Bommai met Yediyurappa, also leaders from the centre- Pradhan, Reddy and Singh.

Ending months of speculation over his exit, Yediyurappa on Monday stepped down as the Chief Minister, coinciding with his government completing two years in office.

The Wire had recently – as part of the Pegasus Project which is based on a leaked data of numbers listed by government clients the Israeli company NSO Group – reported on possible surveillance of top Congress and JD(U) leaders through the spyware Pegasus in the run-up to the dramatic fall of the Kumaraswamy government in 2019.

This had paved the way for Yediyurappa to assume office.

(With PTI inputs)